The Environmental Protection Agency has directed millions of its funding under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan toward environmental justice initiatives, many of which do not directly address the pandemic.
Fifty million dollars of the EPA’s $100 million appropriation from the American Rescue Plan went toward environmental justice, $4.3 million of which was funneled to 34 local environmental organizations for car-sharing programs, tree “pruning workshops,” climate resiliency education, and more.
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Through the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program, announced last year, each organization was awarded $200,000 to address “local environmental and/or public health issues in their communities,” according to the program website.
SEED, one recipient organization in Knoxville, Tennessee, will use the funds to convene a “Climate Plus stakeholders task force” to address climate change, weatherization of homes, and energy efficiency.
Hourcar in St. Paul, Minnesota, will use the funding to install a car-sharing program with 150 shared electric vehicles and 70 curbside charging stations in low-income and minority communities.
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Other organizations will use the funding to educate people on testing their water quality for contaminants, establishing air quality monitoring systems and home clean-up projects, and more.
In total, the EPA directed $50 million toward environmental justice and $50 million for air quality. Other initiatives under environmental justice include a rebate program to provide electric school buses and funding for civil and criminal enforcement to monitor drinking water sources.
